Got a brutal comment on my guest post that actually fixed my strategy

I had this guest post on a decent marketing blog back in March, and someone in the comments said 'your links feel stuffed, not useful.' I was annoyed at first (obviously), but they were right. I was adding links just to get them there instead of making them part of the content. Now I only add a backlink if I can honestly say it helps the reader learn more about that specific point. Has anyone else had a tough comment change how you build links?

2 comments

2 Comments

riverreed21d ago

That comment calling your links stuffed must have stung... I've been there myself actually. Had someone tell me my guest post read like a spam bot wrote it, which was rough but fair. Now my rule is if the link doesn't add something real to what I'm saying, I just leave it out completely. It's like cooking where you used to throw in every spice in the cupboard and now you just use salt and pepper... tastes way better honestly. Made me realize I was treating backlinks like a checklist instead of actual value.

mark36121d ago

Woke up this morning and reread some of my old guest posts and honestly felt like I needed to apologize to the internet. I had links pointing to my site from the word 'click' buried halfway through a paragraph about something totally unrelated. Have you ever looked back at your own writing and just cringed?